Lecture Notes by Christopher Lay

Los Angeles Pierce College

Department of History, Philosophy, and Sociology

Mathew Van Cleave's 2016 Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking

https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/BookDetail.aspx?bookId=457

Chapter 4 "Informal fallacies", § 3 "Fallacies of Relevance," Sub-§ 2 "Straw Man"

"The straw man fallacy misrepresents one’s opponent’s argument and is thus a kind of irrelevance."

In the straw man fallacy, one gives "a rationally compelling argument against" a position that is "much less plausible (and thus much easier to refute)" than the actual, target position. 

In the straw man fallacy, one argues against a straw version of the actual, target position. 

The target position is the actual position that one should confront, but when one instead confronts a different but related position, one has committed the straw man fallacy. 

In the straw man fallacy, one merely argues against "a position that 'looks like' the target position" (like the way a straw man looks like a real human), and not the actual, target position.

Example

When Kanye West argued against Wiz Kalifa for bringing Kanye West's spouse into a dispute with a tweet about KK, Kanye West was confronting a straw position insofar as Wiz Kalifa was not bringing Kanye West's spouse into a dispute with a tweet about KK.  Instead, Wiz Kalifa was referring to his new strain of herb. 

Example

When Bill Nye dismisses philosophy as a viable college major by arguing against a straw version of Descartes' argument (that Descartes' "I think, therefore I am" is a circular argument), Nye committed the straw man fallacy. 

The Appeal of the Straw Man Fallacy

"As with other fallacies of relevance, straw man fallacies can be compelling on some level, even though they are irrelevant.

"It may be that part of the reason we are taken in by straw man fallacies is that humans are prone to 'demonize' the 'other'—including those who hold a moral or political position different from our own."   

"It is easy to think bad things about those with whom we do not regularly interact."

"[I]t is easy to forget that people who are different than us are still people just like us in all the important respects."

Straw Political Positions

"If you are a conservative and mostly only interact with other conservatives, you might be prone to holding lots of false beliefs about liberals. And so maybe you are less prone to notice straw man fallacies targeted at liberals because the false beliefs you hold about them incline you to see the straw man fallacies as true." 

Likewise: "If you are a [liberal] and mostly only interact with other [liberals], you might be prone to holding lots of false beliefs about [conservatives].  And so maybe you are less prone to notice straw man fallacies targeted at [conservatives] because the false beliefs you hold about them incline you to see the straw man fallacies as true." 

Example

Is this a fallacy?  Either way, explain why or why not. 

Onions are evil.  Not only do they make you cry when you cut them, they are also have toxic levels of pro-oxidents.  Study after study has shown that pro-oxidents make you die early. 

Example

Is this a fallacy?  Either way, explain why or why not. 

Socrates' claims about arguments and their value to discern the life worth living are hollow.  Socrates was a crank who regularly resorted to violence to settle his disputes–and just lied about that fact to appear to be intellectual.